Second day of the search for the British journalist and indigenist gains reinforcements by water and air, with dive and air teams

Ívina Garcia – From Cenarium Magazine

MANAUS – Diving and air teams were sent by the federal government and the Amazonas State government to reinforce the search for Bruno Araújo Pereira, of the National Indian Foundation (FUNAI) and the English journalist Dom Phillips, a contributor of The Guardian newspaper, missing since last Sunday, 5.

According to the Brazilian Navy, on the afternoon of Monday, 6, seven soldiers with the aid of a speedboat operated on the rivers Javari, Itaquaí and Ituí, in the countryside of Amazonas, and on the morning of Tuesday, 7, a helicopter from the 1st General Employment Squadron of the Northwest was sent to the site, as well as two boats and a water bike.

Read more: Federal Police investigate the disappearance of indigenist Funai and The Guardian journalist in Vale do Javari in the AM

The search continues 48 hours after the statement issued by the Union of Indigenous Peoples of Vale do Javari (Univaja) and now has a team sent by the Ministry of Justice and Public Safety of Brazil.

In his social network, Minister Anderson Torres informed of the actions of the folder in assisting the search. With photos showing five men and a boat, Anderson wrote: “Good morning with the resumption of the search in Vale do Javari. Since dawn today, with the Ministry of Justice, through Funai, the National Force and the Federal Police, the search for the two missing persons continues.

The Department of Public Safety of the Amazon (SSP-AM) is also collaborating by sending reinforcements to the city of Atalaia do Norte, the task force has 20 people from the security system.

“Early this morning a team of experts in the jungle area left, and also divers, in order to reinforce the team we already have in Atalaia do Norte, of public safety, in the search for the two missing persons,” said the Secretary of Public Safety, General Carlos Alberto Mansur.

This morning, the SSP-AM sent a team of nine agents, between two military police officers from the Environmental Policing Battalion (BPAmb), Amazonas Military Police (PMAM), two civil police officers from the Amazon Special Operations and Resources Coordination (Core-AM), and five military of the Military Fire Department of the State of Amazonas (CBMAM).

The Civil Police of Amazonas (PC-AM), through the Interior Police Department (DPI), reported that the search teams of the Interim Police Station (DIP) of Atalaia do Norte, working on the case, returned to the police station, late afternoon of Monday, 06, with two witnesses, who probably had kept in touch with them before the disappearance.

Read more: Specialized reinforcement is sent to act in the search for missing indigenous and british journalist in Vale do Javari in the AM

According to Guilherme Torres, DPI director, on Tuesday, another team, already assigned, will provide support in the search.

This afternoon, the National Indian Foundation (FUNAI), reported that the search has been expanded and now the team has 15 servers Funai and the National Public Security Force (FNSP).

In addition to the men, the agency says it has “four boats moving in the area, one leaving from the Ethnoenvironmental Protection Base (Bape) Itui-Itaquaí, two leaving from Atalaia do Norte (AM) and a boat leaving the Bape Quixito to travel along the Quixito river, reinforcing the work in the search areas, both by river and by land,” according to the statement released to the press.

According to Funai, still on yesterday afternoon, after arriving in the region where the two men went missing, the teams traveled through the Ituí-Itaquaí Bape region, with the help of local indigenous people, but reported that they found no trace of the path taken by the journalist and the indigenous man.

Recall the case

Bruno Araújo Pereira, a journalist with the National Indian Foundation (FUNAI), and Dom Phillips, a British journalist working for The Guardian newspaper, disappeared in the Javari Valley, in the Amazon, while traveling between the Ribeirinha São Rafael community and the town of Atalaia do Norte. The information was confirmed to the GLOBO by the Union of Indigenous Peoples of the Javari Valley (Univaja).

The two missing persons were traveling in a new boat, with a 40 HP engine and 70 liters of gasoline, enough for the trip, and seven empty drums of fuel.

The two arrived at their destination (Jaburu Lake) on June 3, 2022, at 7:25 pm. On the 5th, the two returned early in the morning to the city of Atalaia do Norte. However, before they stopped at the São Rafael Community, in a previously scheduled visit, so that the indigenist Bruno Pereira could hold a meeting with the community member nicknamed “Churrasco”, with the objective of consolidating joint work between riverside dwellers and indigenous people in the surveillance of the territory, which has been greatly affected by intense invasions.

Dom Phillips is a British freelance journalist who moved to Brazil in 2007, having worked in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Salvador. In addition to The Guardian, Phillips has contributed to the Financial Times, New York Times, Washington Post, Bloomberg, Daily Beast, soccer magazine Four Four Two and energy newspaper Platts, among others. Phillips is currently an Alicia Patterson Foundation Fellow and 2021 Cissy Patterson Environmental Fellow.